With an offense that’s beginning to click and a schedule that softens as it goes, the Broncos are in excellent position to make a run.

That he doesn’t look like the Manning of five years ago with the Colts matters not at all. He’s looking comfortable running this offense, which is the important one at the moment, as no one in the AFC looks any better than the Broncos looked dismantling the Saints.

Here are five more things we learned during Sunday Night Football:

1. Putting Chase Daniel in a Drew Brees outfit for Halloween was a bad idea for the Saints.

Oh, wait, that was really Brees?

Anyone who thinks the Saints star quarterback doesn’t miss Sean Payton this year is kidding themselves.

Brees completed just 22-of-42 passes for 213 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, and the Saints offense lacked any degree of flow whatsoever.

They’ve got an odd lot of running backs they can’t seem to figure out how to maximize, but they’ve always been able to pass around that. Even with tight end Jimmy Graham back on the field, they looked disjointed.

Sure sign of ridiculousness: The Saints were well under 5.0 yards per pass attempt for the pertinent part of the evening, and part of that is on Brees himself.

Payton may not have been able to have the Saints 5-2 instead of their current 2-5, but he’d make a significant difference in the way they’re playing, and would have Brees looking more like Brees.

2. It’s easy, and appropriate, to spend a lot of time on Manning when the Broncos are on.

But running back Willis McGahee remains the engine of that offense.

As long as John Fox is the coach (and the underappreciated Mike McCoy the offensive coordinator), they’re never going to get too far from the run game. And though it’s easy to overlook, the Broncos called 38 run plays and 30 passes when Manning was on the field Sunday, which is not accidental.

They want to incorporate Ronnie Hillman into things, to take advantage of his explosive speed. But McGahee (23 carries for 122 yards) is still getting it done at a high level.

3. The Saints got an emotional boost from the return of linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

And though he moved back into the starting lineup Sunday night, one thing that was growing more and more evident last year was that Vilma’s play was dropping off.

Acquiring Curtis Lofton was not unrelated to the bounty related uncertainty over Vilma’s future, but it was also a reflection of Vilma’s declining play.

There were moments against the Broncos when Vilma looked out of place, and while he’s coming in cold, and changing positions, the reality is he’s not an impact player anymore.

4. With the way things went down in Jacksonville, I’m not sure Jack Del Rio will get a head coaching gig again soon.

But as a defensive coordinator, he and Fox work very well together. In Carolina in 2002, they helped create a six-game bounce in one season by playing dominant defense.

They’re approaching that now.

The Broncos have an interesting group of players on that side, and Del Rio was willing to move his personnel around, putting Von Miller in spots he hadn’t been to create pressure.

Along with the improved Wesley Woodyard, they’re getting better-than-expected play from their front seven, and Del Rio has a hand in that by putting them in the right places.

5. The Saints lack the personnel up front to play defense the way defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo wants to play.

But while the talent on the edges is deficient, the Saints appear to have at least one promising interior player on their hands in rookie defensive tackle Akiem Hicks.

The third-rounder from Canada’s University of Regina has the kind of strength and burst the Saints were lacking inside.

If you can push the pocket from the middle, that’s the shortest distance between two points, and it also makes it easier for ordinary players on the edges.

Manning staked the Broncos to a 7-0 lead by working the ball around sharply. The 41-yard bomb to Demaryius Thomas will make all the highlight shows, but the best throw might have traveled about a yard in the air, if that.

The touchdown was set up by a 14-yard pass to Willis McGahee that is best described as crafty. Both Saints linebackers were sucked inside, Manning put the pass into McGahee’s hip pocket in traffic, and the running back did the rest of the work. It was initially ruled a touchdown, but was overturned on review.

The Broncos did the courteous thing, and let McGahee get the score on the next play.

“Andy Reid, why didn’t you speak to me?” Samuel told reporters, via CSNPhilly.com. “What did I do to you man? I got nothing but love for you Big Red. . . . He wouldn’t speak to me, man, can you believe that? As happy as I am, he wouldn’t even tell me ‘Great game Asante, I love ya man.'”

Samuel addressed the topic several times in his comments to the media.

“Can you believe that?” Samuel said. “He didn’t speak to me. Like it’s my fault, like what did I do to you? You know what I meant? I think it was the way we was dancing out there; it got to him a little bit.”

If Reid didn’t care for Samuel’s dancing, Samuel’s comments may get to Reid a little, too.

“The difference between these teams?” Samuel said. “I think it’s the coaching. We got really good coaching, we run the ball.”

Reid has bigger fish to fry than worrying about what Samuel has to say. Still, it’s more proof that things are quickly unraveling for Reid and the Eagles.

Peter King of Football Night in America spoke to Dolphins coach Joe Philbin and Philbin said that Tannehill suffered a left quad and knee contusion in the first quarter of Sunday’s 30-9 win over the Jets. Tannehill was hurt on a sack by Jets linebacker Calvin Pace and hobbled off the field. Matt Moore took over at quarterback and didn’t make any mistakes while navigating the Dolphins to their fourth win of the season.

Philbin said that they wouldn’t know more about Tannehill’s outlook until Monday, but King said that the coach didn’t sound worried. As of now, there’s no expectation that he will miss any time as a result of the injury.

If so, that means he’ll be at the controls in an intriguing matchup of rookie quarterbacks piloting 4-3 teams when the Dolphins head to Indianapolis for a date with the Colts.

After the first few minutes of Sunday’s game between the Giants and Cowboys, it seemed like the Cowboys would be a lot more than a few inches away from beating the Giants.

As it turns out, that’s exactly how close they came. Dez Bryant made what appeared to be a brilliant leaping catch of a ball in the end zone with 10 seconds left to play to give the Cowboys a win, but it was clear on replay that his fingers were out of bounds by inches as he came to the turf. Tony Romo would just miss Miles Austin at the goal line a couple of plays later and then throw the ball out of the end zone, which was enough to give the Giants a 29-24 win that looked much easier in the second quarter.

That was when the Giants were up 23-0 thanks to four Cowboys turnovers. The Giants couldn’t press their lead, though, and Tony Romo hooked up with Bryant, Austin and Jason Witten for huge numbers to bring the Cowboys back to a 24-23 lead. The Giants offense was dreadful from the 23-0 point until the Cowboys grabbed the lead with Eli Manning looking particularly off until the fourth quarter began. That’s when he led the Giants to two field goals sandwiched around a Felix Jones fumble and made sure that the Jets didn’t have any competition in the New York area rage department this Sunday.

Romo had another chance to lead the Cowboys back before that wild final drive, but he was picked off for the fourth time by Giants safety Stevie Brown on a fourth down heave. Romo wound up with 437 passing yards, Witten set a Cowboys record with 17 catches and all three of the receivers mentioned above had more than 100 passing yards. All of that production was undone by the six turnovers, though, and that’s the ultimate reason they lost.

The Giants never really got things moving offensively on Sunday and the defense struggled for long stretches, but they made fewer mistakes and made enough plays in the fourth quarter to save the day. That’s become their calling card and, at 6-2, it’s one they’re likely to keep playing a while longer.

Teams may be calling the Panthers to see if they can acquire running back DeAngelo Williams from a team without a G.M. For now, it appears that the Panthers won’t bite.

A league source tells PFT that a trade is more likely to happen, if at all, after the Panthers hire a General Manager.

Of Williams’ $5.25 million base salary in 2012, $5 million is fully guaranteed. After this season, none of the remaining money is guaranteed.

Per a source with knowledge of the contract, Williams is due to earn $4.75 million in base salary in 2013, $5.75 million in 2014, and $6.75 million in 2015.

A trade before June 1 of 2013 would result in a $9.6 million cap acceleration for the Panthers; after June 1, Williams would cost $3.2 million against the cap in 2013 and $6.4 million in 2013. A trade before Tuesday would result in the entire $9.6 million hitting the cap in 2012. (As of early September, the Panthers had only $5.3 million in cap space.)

Of course, none of this will stop teams from trying to swipe Williams from the Panthers between now and 4:00 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Publicly, Eagles quarterback Mike Vick seems to be throwing in the towel.

Privately, he’s doing anything but.

Vick told reporters after Sunday’s loss to the Falcons that coach Andy Reid is considering making a quarterback change — and that Vick would support it. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Vick privately is upset about the situation.

Vick believes that today’s loss wasn’t his fault. He had no turnovers, and he thinks that the performance of the defense kept him from ever having a chance to win the game.

It’s be interesting to see what Reid says in response. With the Eagles already closing up shop on Monday for Hurricane Sandy, we may not hear from him for a few days.

The Eagles return to action next Monday night, against the Saints in New Orleans.

A good team would have beaten the Chiefs by a much, much bigger margin. And good teams aren’t 3-4 this time of year.

At the same time, the Raiders have won two in a row (though the other one was against the Jaguars), along with beating the Steelers and giving the undefeated Falcons one of the best games anyone has all year.

There are moments when the Raiders look like an utterly capable professional football team.

They’re still very young in the rebuilding process, but there are clearly parts to build with on both sides of the football. I’m not sure Carson Palmer is the guy to quarterback them when they get closer to good, but he’s good enough to beat the chaff of the league.

The Chiefs fell to 1-6 with the loss, and the Saints should be eternally embarrassed for losing to them in overtime. The Chiefs haven’t led for a second of game time yet this year, and may not.

Brady Quinn didn’t return to the game after a first-half head injury, and Matt Cassel was the only other quarterback in uniform, or else inactive Ricky Stanzi might have gotten a turn. Cassel took a hard shot late from Richard Seymour, but can at least be hailed for his toughness, if not his aptitude.

With thee teams being fined $20,000 each in recent weeks for failing to disclose injuries in compliance with league rules, the penalty for the first offense isn’t much more than, given the value of NFL franchises, a parking ticket.

If teams become repeat offenders, however, the price will go up.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tells PFT that, if the Bills (as to defensive end Mario Williams), Redskins (as to quarterback Robert Griffin III), or Ravens (as to safety Ed Reed) commit further violations, the fines will increase. Aiello also didn’t rule out the possibility of draft picks being stripped.

Aiello called it “unlikely,” but “multiple offenses of a very serious nature” could result in a team losing draft picks.

In the end, only the threat of lost draft picks will prompt teams to completely comply with the rules. Fines will be viewed simply as a cost of doing business the way the teams want to do business — especially when the January 2012 comments from former Saints defensive coordinator Greg Williams make clear the fact that teams will target injured players for further injury.